Silver King Death – Heart Attack

silver king dead

Lucha Libre legend and WCW alum Silver King dies after suffering from a heart attack in the ring. He was 51. photo: wwe.com

1968-2019 (Age 51)

Lucha star and WCW alum, Silver King (real name César Cuauhtémoc González Barrón) has died at age 51.

On May 11, 2019, Silver King suffered a heart attack and collapsed in the ring after facing Juventud Guerrera in a match in London.

In the late 90s, González made a name for himself with WCW, appearing in their cruiserweight division. He received his fair share of TV time, mostly in mixed tag matches, and appeared at a half dozen pay-per-views.

González was released from WCW in late 2000, a few months prior to the company being bought out by Vince McMahon.

Aside from his run in WCW’s cruiserweight division, González gained notoriety after appearing opposite Jack Black in the 2006 film, Nacho Libre. González played “Ramses” in the film – a top villain donning a yellow mask.

Silver King Death

On May 11, 2019, Silver King collapsed in the ring while facing opponent Juventud Guerrera at an independent wrestling event in London.

silver king wcw

Silver King enters the ring for WCW’s Fall Brawl (1998).

Footage of the incident has surfaced on YouTube, and while I’m not comfortable linking to that footage, it appears to show both the referee as well as Juventud Guerrera unaware of the seriousness of Silver King’s condition. It took several minutes for paramedics to tend to King, who was ultimately pronounced dead after suffering from a heart attack.

The promotion running the event, Lucha Libre World, issued the following statement on Twitter:

Several other wrestlers have died in 2019 including King Kong Bundy, Pedro Morales and announcer Mean Gene Okerlund.

Our condolences to the friends and family of González.